Various systems on-board commercial and military aircraft transmit a variety of data to ground-based stations related to the operation and safety of the aircraft. For example, on-board health management function applications may send data to ground stations that may be used by maintenance personnel to prepare the aircraft for maintenance operations in advance of its arrival. The communication of such messages to ground stations is typically performed using a standard communication system known as ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System). ACARS is a digital data link system used to transmit short messages between aircraft and ground stations via any of various wireless communication interfaces, sometimes referred to as air-ground sub-networks, such as Swift-Broadband (SSB) SATCOM, or 802.11 wireless LANs. Each message comprises Short Burst Data (SBD) which is a format that utilizes data packets no greater than 1960 bytes in length, or about 220 characters. The messages may comprise a variety of information or data such as the maintenance information mentioned above, take-off times, location reports, passenger information, etc. The ACARS system uses an on-board communication management unit (CMU) which functions to route the messages to the appropriate destinations on the ground. ACARS utilizes a predefined protocol in which messages are assigned priorities and queued for delivery according to urgency, destination, etc.
The ACARS messaging system requires that the CMU have complete control over the communication interface used to transmit messages on a message-by-message basis. The ACARS messaging system is therefore incompatible with messages that are generated on-board using standard IP (Internet Protocol). For example, a number of client applications may be connected on-board the aircraft by a local area network (LAN) which uses IP-based file transfer such as a form of TCP/IP to communicate messages on the LAN. When it is desired to deliver one of these messages to a ground-based station, it is not possible to dictate a particular communication interface used to transmit the message, since routing is inherently governed by the protocol used by the network, rather than that specified by the clients.
Accordingly, there is a need for a communication routing system that allows routing of IP-based messages to ground destinations using packet based radio communications. Embodiments of the disclosure are directed towards satisfying this need.